China’s Chang’e 6 returns with first rocks from far side of the moon

The Chinese lunar spacecraft Chang’e 6 has touched down in Inner Mongolia, bringing back to Earth the first rock samples from the moon’s far side

By Alex Wilkins

25 June 2024

The Chang’e 6 probe being retrieved in Siziwang Banner in Inner Mongolia, China

Xinhua/Shutterstock

China’s Chang’e 6 spacecraft has returned to Earth, bringing back the first chunks of space rock from the far side of the moon.

The capsule touched down in Siziwang Banner in Inner Mongolia, China, on 25 June, after separating from an orbiting container 5000 kilometres above the Atlantic Ocean at about 1:20pm local time.

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The sample, which should contain around 2 kilograms of material from the moon, then floated down for the last 10 kilometres using parachutes. It landed at 2:07pm before being collected by scientists from the China National Space Administration.

The difficulty of landing on the moon’s far side, which permanently faces away from Earth and so has no direct communications link, had meant that the region’s surface was unexplored until the Chinese spacecraft landed at the start of the month.

Its landing and collection manoeuvres relied heavily on autonomous processes and robotic tools, although Chinese engineers could send messages to the spacecraft through the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, which launched in March this year and is still in orbit around the moon.